an African city, situated on the banks of the Joliba or Niger, in 17° 40' north latitude, and 22° 30' west longitude, being nearly the very latitude in which Ptolemy placed the town which he calls Cuphar; and it is very remarkable that the principal stream of the Niger, which passes to the south and to the eastward of Timbuctoo, is laid down by Ptolemy as passing in the same direction in regard to Cuphar.

This town, which has long been the object of European research, is greatly reduced from the magnitude and importance which it attained under the Arabian and Mahomedan power when triumphant in Africa. It now contains only about 13,000 inhabitants; but these are much superior to the inhabitants of the other African towns. According to Sidi Hamed, it is built on a plain surrounded on all sides with hills except on the south, on which side the plain extends to the river. About ten or twelve miles to the south of Timbuctoo stands Cabra, which is its port on the Joliba. De Caillé describes the city and its environs as dreary and desolate; but this may be accounted for by the circumstance of his having visited it at the close of the dry season; for other travellers have described the adjacent country as verdant and fruitful. Timbuctoo may be regarded as the principal mart for this part of Africa. It is the great central point to which the commercial travellers from Algiers, Tripoli, Tunis, Egypt, &c. resort. The Moors resident in Timbuctoo receive consignments of merchandise from Adrar, Tafllet, Towat or Twat, Ardamas (Ghadames), Tripoli, &c.; and some of the shops are well stored with articles of European manufacture. The king or governor of Timbuctoo, who is a negro, is himself a merchant.

The city forms a sort of triangle, measuring about three miles in circumference. The streets are clean, and wide enough to allow three horsemen to pass abreast. It is principally inhabited by negroes of the Kissoor nation. The Moorish merchants, after having made what they consider a fortune, generally return to their own country to enjoy the fruits of their labours. Fire-wood is scarce, and the town is indifferently supplied with water, which is procured from reservoirs, which have been excavated to the depth of thirty-five or forty feet for the purpose of collecting the rain-water. The inhabitants are zealous Mahomedans. They are neat in their dress, and in the interior of their dwellings, but are represented to be very licentious in their manners. The Tooariks, a warlike nation spread over the Great Desert, render the inhabitants of this and the other towns their tributaries.